The present invention relates to devices and methods for monitoring a rotatable reel for the winding and unwinding of elongated material, for example, a cable, and more particularly, to a device and method for monitoring an area adjacent to the reel.
Machines have been used to rotate a reel for the winding-up or paying-off an elongated material, for example, a cable. In industrial applications, the rotational speed of and torque applied to the reel can be varied throughout the winding-up or paying-off process in correspondence with the amount of cable on the reel. With a full reel of cable, each rotation of the reel equates to a greater length of cable compared to a near empty reel due to the greater diameter of cable on the full reel. To wind-up or pay-off at a constant rate, the rotational speed of the reel can decrease as the cable gets wound up or it can increase as the cable is paid-off. Also, the required rotational torque increases with the greater amount of cable on the reel. Many machines have the capability to wind-up and pay-off reels of multiple sizes, as the reels can have reel cores and reel flanges of varying diameters and axial lengths.
There can be safety issues associated with winding-up and paying-off cable from a reel, since operators typically assist in the winding-up or paying-off process. For example, when winding cable onto a reel, an operator typically loosely holds on to the cable near the reel to direct the cable on to the reel in order to insure an even cable traverse. The operator""s care is required when an uneven cable traverse has occurred, since the operator is needed to redirect the cable to fill the uneven portion to compensate for the uneven traverse. As the operator redirects the cable, a safety problem can occur if the operator gets caught up with the cable as it is being wound onto the reel. If this happens, the operator may be pulled over the reel and can be injured.
There have been a number of devices designed to solve some of the safety concerns. One safety solution involves using photo-detectors to create a beam of light adjacent to the reel. This solution is unsatisfactory because a light beam directly in front of the reel may be broken by an operator during the normal winding-up or paying-off process, thereby unnecessarily shutting down operations. Also, this solution can fail to detect an operator""s presence in the area between the flanges of the reel, since the light beam generator and reflector sense only the area outside of the flanges of the reel.
Another inadequate solution uses a floor mat having sensors in it for detecting the operator""s presence on the mat. When the operator steps off the mat, the motor powering rotation of the reel is shut down. A disadvantage of the floor mat approach is that the reel may be traversed over the floor mat requiring the operator to move out of the way. Another solution uses photo-sensors and multiple beams of light crossing the area where the operator stands. These solutions are problematic because they restrict the position of the operator to a given area. As the operator may occasionally need to move up and down the length of cable in order to properly wind-up or pay-off the cable, restricting the position of the operator is undesirable. Further, the known solutions are impractical because they require the operator to notify/disable the system when the operator must leave the mat/sensor area. Additionally, the known solutions are not flexible enough to adjust to various reel sizes and wind-up and pay-off locations. Another disadvantage of the known safety systems is that they are not easily adjustable to guard the safety of an operator over a wide range of reel sizes.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for monitoring a spooling area of a rotatable reel and areas adjacent thereto and adapted for winding-up or paying-off an elongated material, the device may include: a detector for determining the presence and/or position of an object within and/or adjacent the spooling area and relative to a rotational axis of the reel, the detector adapted to output a position signal indicating the presence and/or position; a controller for determining a change in position of the object relative to the rotational axis, the controller having a memory for storing a second position signal detected at a second time and a processor for comparing the position signal to a first position signal detected at a first time and stored in the memory to determine a position change value over a time period, the time period being the difference between the first time and the second time, and the controller outputting a position change signal representative of the position change value.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for monitoring the area adjacent a rotatable reel adapted for winding-up or paying-off cable, the device may include: an arm longitudinally extendible into the area between flanges of the reel and displaceable relative to the rotational axis of the reel; a sensor adapted to detect the displacement of the arm and to output a position signal representative of the displacement; a controller having a memory and/or a processor, the memory adapted to receive the position signal and the processor adapted to compare the position signal to a previously-received position signal stored in the memory to determine a displacement change value, the controller operative to output a displacement change signal representative of the displacement change value.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable winding or pay-off device, the device may include: a frame having a first and second leg and a cross-beam connecting the top ends of each of the first and second leg; a mount affixed between each of the first and second leg, the mount adapted for releasably and rotatably securing a reel for winding or paying off cable, the reel having a core longitudinally extending between a first and second flange; a motor adapted for rotating the reel; an arm longitudinally extendible between the flanges and contactable with the reel or with the cable wound about the reel; a sensor coupled to the arm, the sensor adapted to detect the rotational position of the arm relative to the rotational axis of the reel and to output a position signal representative of the rotational position; and a controller having a memory and a processor, the memory adapted to receive the position signal and the processor adapted to compare the position signal to a previously received position signal stored in the memory to determine a rotational position change value, wherein the controller is adapted to output a position change signal representative of the rotational position change value.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for automatically controlling a machine that rotates a reel for winding or unwinding cable, comprising: detecting the presence and/or position of an object between the flanges of the reel relative to the rotational axis of the reel and outputting a position signal indicating the detected presence and/or position; comparing the position signal to a previously-received position signal stored in a memory of a controller using a processor associated with the controller in order to determine a position change value; and sending an output signal to the machine to stop rotation of the reel if the position change value is greater than a predetermined maximum position change value.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for monitoring a rotatable reel on which wound cable forms a cable surface, comprising: means for detecting and determining a first position of a first detected surface at a first detection time between the detection means and the reel; means for detecting and determining a second position of a second detected surface at a second detection time between the detection means and the reel; means for determining a change in position and a time period, wherein the change in position is the difference between the first position and the second position, and wherein the time period is the difference between the first detection time and the second detection time; and means for controlling the rotatable reel based on the change in position and the time period.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for monitoring a rotatable reel, the rotatable reel being operatively associated with a drive system for driving rotation of the reel, said reel having a spooling area for receiving an elongated material; and a detector, the detector being operative to detect the presence of an object at least partially in the spooling area, the detector being operatively associated with the driving system so that when the detector detects the presence of the object operation of the driving system can be controlled.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for mounting to a machine, the machine being operative to rotate at least one rotatable reel having reel flanges, the rotatable reel being operatively associated with a drive system for driving the rotatable reel, the rotatable reel having a spooling area for receiving an elongated material, the apparatus for mounting to the machine comprising: a detector, the detector being mountable to a movable frame, the movable frame being operative to move the rotatable reel; and the detector being operative as part of a control system for the machine and when mounted adjacent the movable frame to detect the presence of an object at least partially in the spooling area.